After my long weekend

I was off-line for three days and had well over 500 e-mails this morning, no time to open even half. Sorry. Posts will be spotty as I’m in a transition phase. ~Bob

The Progressive Legacy. By Robert A. Hall

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-progressive-legacy_27.html

In case you missed it, with the child/squirrel typo fixed, thanks to readers. Some comments from readers: “My good sir, the world would be a much better place with you as President.” –JJ. “If it means fewer progressives, maybe we should support more abortions?” –TH. “Friends and Relatives, While this article may appear long for an email, it is one of the most concise and best articles describing Liberal (Progressive) theory thinking and actions. If the first theoretical part is too remote for you, skip it and look at the "Detailed Legacy half way down the article." –ME. “This is so good. Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to produce it. It must take such patience. I am admittedly not so well informed as you are, but as near as I can tell, in my humble opinion, you have captured the essential nature of the problem.” –R. “A most excellent read. I believe that Bob has captured the mind of the liberal progressive very well, too well perhaps. “ –WD.

Must Read: Obama Clings To Climate Change Science That Now Looks Very Wrong. By H. Sterling Burnett

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-perspective/092613-672687-obama-signs-more-climate-change-deals-while-rest-of-the-world-backs-off.htmExcerpt: Let's look at temperature. In 1990, the IPCC issued an estimate that a doubling of pre-industrial levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would lead to a rise in the Earth's temperature of 9 degrees Fahrenheit. In 2001, the IPCC had to change that prediction to just over 6 degrees. In 2007, we saw that same number drop to approximately 5.4 degrees. Now, according to early reports, the IPCC's latest estimate is only 2.4 degrees. (This latter prediction, by the way, is in line with what a number of climate skeptics have been saying for years.) Even the IPCC admits that this is hardly the calamity predicted just a few years earlier.

Guest Post: Another Chamberlain Moment

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2013/09/guest-post-is-another-chamberlain_29.html

Four Numbers Say Wind and Solar Can’t Save Climate. By Robert Bryce

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-20/four-numbers-say-wind-and-solar-can-t-save-climate.html

Excerpt: As the discussion unfolds, I would urge everyone to keep four numbers in mind: 32, 1, 30 and 1/2. These are the numbers that explain why any transition away from our existing energy systems will be protracted and costly. Let’s take them in sequence.

Let’s Privatize the Welfare State. By John Goodman

http://healthblog.ncpa.org/lets-privatize-the-welfare-state/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HA#more-32891

Excerpt: Have you ever given money to the food stamp program? Do you know anyone who has? Actually, some people do occasionally make gifts to federal entitlement programs. But gifts to the entire federal government were a paltry $241 million in 2010, the last year for which statistics are available. By contrast, Americans donated almost $300 billion last year to private sector charities in addition to volunteer time valued at $158 billion.

The money we spend on food stamps (technically called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) almost all comes from coercive taxation, rather than charitable contributions. For example, the United Way of Dallas donated $50 million to 90 private charities last year. The food stamp program was not among them. Even the government’s charitable giving program for federal employees ($270 million to 20,000 non-profit groups) does not list the food stamp program as an option.

IG Report: IRS Failed to Track $67 Million for Obamacare

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/09/26/ig-report-irs-failed-to-track-67-million-for-obamacare/

Excerpt: The Internal Revenue Service failed to track some $67 million in indirect costs of implementing the 2010 health-care overhaul, according to a new inspector general report.

Tony Blair’s Daughter Mugged by Armed Gunman in Gun-Free UK

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/tony-blairs-daughter-mugged-by-armed-gunman-in-gun-free-uk/

Excerpt: If you listen to Piers Morgan, the UK is a utopia where guns were banned and as a result everyone spends all day hugging each other. The reality is that in the UK, as in Chicago or New York, the difficulty in obtaining a gun only means that the gunmen are all criminals.

Greenspan: Failure to Solve Deficit Problem Could Spark Financial Crisis"Unconstrained deficit spending" represents the United States' No. 1 domestic economic problem, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan writes in a new book, Politico reports.

http://www.moneynews.com/Economy/Greenspan-deficit-financial-crisis/2013/09/25/id/527595

Excerpt: Greenspan says Washington needs reform of its own to solve our deficit woes. "Our highest priority going forward is to fix our broken political system," he states. "Short of that, there is no viable long-term solution to our badly warped economy." (Note the sentence in bold which I altered for emphasis. I'm not the only guy who thinks our system is at the least badly damaged, or perhaps even broken. --Del)

Obama Has Al Qaeda On The Run: All Over Christians

http://clashdaily.com/2013/09/obama-al-qaeda-run-christians/

Excerpt: “Today, al Qaeda is on the run.” President Barack Obama, Oct. 11, 2012(Was this before or after allowing the murders in Benghazi?~JB) But Mr. Obama’s delusion is not quaint or risible. It has emboldened this barbaric bunch of Islamic thugs to focus on innocent Christians throughout the Muslim world.But Mr. Obama’s delusion is not quaint or risible. It has emboldened this barbaric bunch of Islamic thugs to focus on innocent Christians throughout the Muslim world.

Obama's flawed thinking on full display at UN. By Cal Thomas

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/09/26/obama-flawed-thinking-on-full-display-at-un/?intcmp=obnetwork

Excerpt: His claim that "The world is more stable than it was five years ago" is demonstrably false. In Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Kenya, Congo, to name only a few, there are at least as many conflicts as in 2008 and far more now than when the United Nations was created. 

According to Themner, Lotta and Peter Wallensteen, in "Armed Conflict, 1946-2011," Journal of Peace Research, there were fewer than 20 armed conflicts in 1946. Today there are more than 30.

CAIR’s Islamophobia Meltdown. By Daniel Greenfield

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/cairs-islamophobia-meltdown/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2adc6171a3-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-2adc6171a3-156414477

Excerpt: While the CAIR report attempted to stigmatize terrorism research by reporting on the straightforward funding of organizations and individuals such as Robert Spencer; the Johnson report showed that CAIR, described by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in financing terrorism, had engaged in convoluted methods to conceal its financing sources while laundering money from abroad.

Qaeda tells Syria schoolgirls to wear Islamic clothes: NGO

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/09/28/qaeda-tells-syria-schoolgirls-to-wear-islamic-clothes-ngo/

Excerpt:In Tweihineh, "the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant... has forbidden girls in primary education and above from attending school unless they wear fully Islamic clothing including an abaya (gown), gloves and a veil," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Nigeria College Attacked: At Least 40 Killed

http://news.sky.com/story/1147882/nigeria-college-attacked-at-least-40-killed

Excerpt: At least 40 people have been killed after suspected Islamist gunmen fired on students as they slept at a college in northeast Nigeria.

US nuclear commander suspended over gambling, officials say http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/28/us-nuclear-commander-suspended-gambling

Excerpt: The No 2 officer at the military command in charge of all US nuclear war-fighting forces has been suspended and is under investigation by the naval criminal investigation command for issues related to gambling, officials said on Saturday. The highly unusual action against a high-ranking officer at US strategic command was made more than three weeks ago but not publicly announced. Air force general Robert Kehler, who heads Strategic Command, suspended the deputy commander, navy vice admiral Tim Giardina, from his duties on September 3, according to the command's top spokeswoman, navy captain Pamela Kunze.

Worse Is the New Normal: Mid-20th-century assumptions of generational progress no longer obtain

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/359778/worse-new-normal-mark-steyn

Excerpt:… George Orwell, after attending a meeting of impoverished but passive miners, remarked sadly that “there is no turbulence left in England.” The Democrats, and much of the Republican establishment, have made a bet that there is no turbulence left in America, and the citizenry will stand mute before Obamacare’s wrecking ball. Unless they’re willing to accept a worse life for their children and grandchildren, middle-class Americans need to prove them wrong.

U.S. TO TEACH MEXICANS TO GAME AMERICAN SYSTEM: Feds plan to spend $100,000 to help give away more money

http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/u-s-to-teach-mexicans-to-game-american-system/#jkQHxED8UDVdivuw.99

Excerpt: It’s an expenditure of only $100,000 – mere pocket change in the vast labyrinth of federal spending – but the funds are for the creation of a manual to teach people how to get more money from the U.S. government. And the recipients aren’t even citizens of the United States. The U.S. Trade & Development Agency, an independent White House agency, is laying the foundation for the government of Mexico to infuse hundreds of billions of dollars into modernizing its roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure.

‘Netanyahu to tell Obama Iran has enough uranium for a bomb’

http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-to-tell-obama-iran-has-enough-uranium-for-a-bomb/

Excerpt: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when he meets Barack Obama on Monday, will present the US president with an intelligence report asserting that Iran has amassed enough enriched uranium to produce a nuclear weapon, according to Britain’s Sunday Times.

New U.S. mayor sets sights on 'black nation'

http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/new-mayor-sets-sights-on-black-nation/

Excerpt: Voters in Jackson, Miss., a mid-sized city in the heart of the Deep South, have picked a Democrat as their mayor. What’s different about this individual is that he is a former leader of the Republic of New Afrika, a group dedicated to creating an independent black nation out of five southern states.

Ten states where Obamacare wipes out existing health care plans

http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/28/ten-states-where-obamacare-wipes-out-existing-health-care-plans/#ixzz2gOeafA8y

Excerpt: But as Obamacare’s rollout approaches, we have learned this is not true. Here are the ten states where consumers may like their health care planes, but they won’t be able to keep them.

Israel Claims To Have Arrested Iranian Spy Carrying Photos Of US Embassy

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/09/29/Israel-Claims-To-Have-Arrested-Iranian-Spy-Carrying-Photos-Of-US-Embassy

Excerpt: On September 29 Israel's Shin Bet security service announced the arrest of an Iranian spy allegedly carrying photos of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. The alleged spy was arrested on September 11, carrying a Belgian passport. According to Business Insider, the alleged spy had been operating under the name Alex Mans, but his real name is Ali Mansouri.

Why So Many Don't "Get" The Tea Party

http://justcommonsense-lostinamerica.blogspot.com/2013/09/why-so-many-dont-get-tea-party.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FMoXTa+%28Lost+in+America%29

Excerpt: A wide swath of American society just do not "get" the Tea Party. At first I just thought so many are ignorant. But I've come to believe it's because our national morality has declined so precipitously that they no longer understand anyone who would place principle over popularity or career success…or "being cool". So many moderates and most Democrats choose to demonize the Tea Party while knowing so little about it. They call them racists, while failing to see thousands of Hispanics and Blacks and Asians marching in those Tea Party rallies.

SEIU Members Strike After Obamacare-Caused Job Cut

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/09/27/SEIU-Members-Strike-After-Jobs-Cut-Because-of-Obamacare

Excerpt: Service Employees International Union (SEIU) members in Chicago have gone on strike after a janitorial company cut some union jobs and hours because of Obamacare, a law the SEIU supported. Tyler French, the organizing director of SEIU Local 1 in Chicago, said a janitorial company called "Professional Maintenance" cut the jobs and hours.

NSA employee spied on nine women without detection, internal file shows: Twelve cases of unauthorised surveillance documented in letter from NSA's inspector general to senator Chuck Grassley

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/27/nsa-employee-spied-detection-internal-memo

It also reveals limited disciplinary action taken against NSA staff found to have abused the system. …Two civilian employees kept their jobs – and, it appears, their security clearance – and escaped with only a written warning after they were found to have conducted unauthorised interceptions. The abuses – technically breaches of the law – did not result in a single prosecution, even though more than half of the cases were referred to the Department of Justice. 

McCain hires Syria rebel advocate Elizabeth O’Bagy

http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/27/mccain-hires-syria-rebel-advocate-elizabeth-obagy/#ixzz2gCtZ7XiK

Excerpt: Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain hired the Syria analyst in favor of U.S. intervention who was fired for fabricating her Ph.D., Foreign Policy reported. Elizabeth O’Bagy, formerly of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), will start Monday as a legislative assistant in Sen. McCain’s office. McCain told Foreign Policy that “Elizabeth is a talented researcher, and I have been very impressed by her knowledge and analysis in multiple briefings over the last year.” (Maybe she’s good at playing poker? Hard to believe you’d hire a Syrian rebel mole without education claimed….must have the robochip implanted at one of those steak and lobster dinners….Barb)

Hersh slams US media, says ‘not one word’ of White House bin Laden narrative is true

http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/27/hersh-slams-us-media-claims-bin-laden-narrative-is-not-true/#ixzz2gCs3301U

Excerpt: In an interview with The Guardian (U.K.) published Friday, the left-leaning Seymour Hersh, best known for his Pulitzer-winning reporting that exposed the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, unloaded on the American news media for its underwhelming coverage of the Obama White House. Hersh told The Guardian’s Lisa O’Carroll that the ABC and NBC news bureaus ought to be shut down and 90 percent of the editors fired for sake of fixing journalism

Al Qaeda Opens First Official Twitter Accounthttp://conservativebyte.com/2013/09/al-qaeda-opens-first-official-twitter-account/

Excerpt: Maybe they’ll start posting their next targets! Unreal that Obama can’t get these thugs in check and that they have so little fear that they’ll be this open.

ADOLPH HITLER: The Real Father of Universal Health Care

http://clashdaily.com/2013/09/adolph-hitler-real-father-universal-health-care/

Excerpt: Because resources are limited, the concept of Universal Healthcare requires the Government to make decisions on the distribution of healthcare that will determine the survivability of different groups in society. That is, the welfare of the collective and government priorities are placed above that of the rights of any individual.

Highest Paid Court-Appointed Attorney in Ohio Billed 29-Hour Day

http://gawker.com/highest-paid-court-appointed-attorney-in-ohio-billed-29-1367163471

Excerpt: An Ohio attorney who handled more than 800 court-appointed cases last year billed for workdays that included 29 hours, 23 hours, 21.5 hours, and 21 hours. In total, his billable hours averaged out into nine hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Docs Flee Jersey (Wouldn't You?) By J. Robert Smith

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/09/docs_flee_jersey_wouldnt_you.html#!

Excerpt: Via the Drudge Report, we learn that medical docs are fleeing Blue State Jersey faster than "Old Blue Eyes" skedaddled out of Hoboken. This from MY9NJ.com: According to Deborah Briggs, the President and CEO of the Council of Teaching Hospitals, New Jersey loses nearly 70% of the doctors it educates to other states. This is well below the national average of a 48% retention rate.

Peggy Noonan: World Wants the Old America Back

http://www.newsmax.com/newswidget/noonan-american-leadership-obama/2013/09/27/id/528056?promo_code=E700-1&utm_source=Front_Page_Mag&utm_medium=nmwidget&utm_campaign=widgetphase1

Excerpt: Noonan quotes a former senior U.S. diplomat as saying, "World leaders are very negative about Obama," and are "disappointed, feeling he's not really in charge . . . The Western Europeans don't pay that much attention to him anymore."

Moroccans Protest Against Muslim Brotherhood Government. By Daniel Greenfield

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/moroccans-protest-against-muslim-brotherhood-government/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=moroccans-protest-against-muslim-brotherhood-government

Excerpt: But just like Egypt and Tunisia, Islamist rule isn’t proving to be too popular. "Up to 5,000 people protested in the Moroccan capital Sunday against the Islamist government and the high cost of living after price rises of staple goods, a journalist said."

This year's SAT scores are out, and they are grim. By Julia Ryan

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/09/this-years-sat-scores-are-out-and-theyre-grim/279999/

Excerpt: Of the 1.66 million high school students in the class of 2013 who took the SAT, only 43 percent were academically prepared for college-level work, according to this year’s SAT Report on College & Career Readiness. For the fifth year in a row, fewer than half of SAT-takers received scores that qualified them as “college-ready.” (Progressive education. My combined SATS were 1,424, in 1968, but I took it after I’d been in the Corps for four, and skipped a lot in high school. ~Bob)

Walmart Shooter Targeted White Victims. By Tony Lee

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/09/26/Walmart-Shooter-Targeted-White-Victims

Excerpt: Police eventually "seized computers and documents from Faust's home that showed he had a plan for the attack and wanted to shoot a large number of people."

Guest Post: Is Another Chamberlain Moment Arriving?

Is Another Chamberlain Moment Arriving?

Colonel Donald J. Myers USMC (Ret)

In September 1938 Prime Minister Chamberlain signed a paper with Adolph Hitler permitting Germany to take over the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia so that "peace" would be maintained in Europe. The Prime Minster returned to Britain waving the paper signed by Hitler and claiming, "Peace in our time." A year later Germany invaded Poland and World War II started. In February 1945, President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and General Secretary Stalin met in Yalta, in the Crimea, to determine the administration of Europe following the end of the war that was rapidly approaching. During the Vietnam War, President Johnson thought that he could negotiate with Ho Chi Minh and started the peace talks. Now we have talk and unbelievable hype about the possibility of some type of breakthrough concerning Iran and its desire for a nuclear bomb. The new president of Iran, Hasan Rouhani, and President Obama are both in New York for the United Nations meeting. Rouhani is described as a moderate by the media and someone that we may be able to talk with. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, has stated that Iran is open to talks concerning its nuclear program.

What do all of these events have in common? On one side of the negotiations was a dictator who had one thought in his mind and that was how to get exactly what he wanted and was willing to promise anything in return. On the other side was one or more individuals who represented a democratic country that desired peace and prosperity for all and was willing to negotiate honestly. These individuals were naive enough to believe that the other side wanted the same. History has a nasty habit of repeating itself and a wise person pays close attention to events from the past. Germany had lost World War I although its military was never defeated. As a result, many Germans did not accept the fact that they had lost. The terms of surrender were quite harsh in all areas to include reparations and according to many experts were the roots for the cause of the Second World War. When Hitler assumed power, he began to rebuild his military in violation of the armistice. The west did nothing. In 1936, Hitler moved troops into the Rhineland in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Again, the west did nothing. In 1938, Germany occupied Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia. That is when Chamberlain went to meet with Hitler and signed the paper allowing the occupation of a portion of Czechoslovakia and the Hitler promise that he did not want any more land. That lasted a year.

President Johnson had a reputation for being a superb negotiator when he was the Majority Leader in the Senate. When he became president he was successful in implementing many of his programs to include the Civil Rights Bill and the War on Poverty. When the Vietnam War started, he assumed that he could just as easily negotiate with Ho Chi Minh. He was no longer dealing with an individual who would honestly negotiate. Ho Chi Minh had one goal and that was to unite the North and South under one banner and that would be under him. President Nixon discovered the same problem when he assumed the presidency in 1969. He continued the talks with the North and started withdrawing troops while turning more responsibility over to the South Vietnamese. The peace talks stalled in 1972 when the North Vietnamese walked out of the talks and President Nixon ordered the Christmas bombings of Hanoi by B-52s and that continued until the North returned to the negotiations. The final points were ironed out and Americans left the country. The North did not obey the terms and in 1975 invaded and defeated the South.  

That brings us up to the present time with President Obama. When he was initially inaugurated, he stated that he was willing to talk to anyone including those who were not friendly. That really sounds great, but President Obama is committing the same error as those I previously mentioned. Dictators and despots do not negotiate in good faith. Their goal is not to negotiate but to win at any cost. Promising the moon or any thing short of that is fine by them because they have no intention of fulfilling any promises or at least any meaningful promises. I fear that all too often our side looks at these negotiations as a debate with specific rules that everyone follows. That is not how it works. President Reagan was the only one who dealt with the Soviet Union properly. He called it an evil empire and demanded that the Berlin Wall be torn down. Members from our side were appalled by his words because there were confrontational, but true. Remember when he said "Trust but verify." Unlike every president before him, he decided not just to "get along" but to win.

When we decide to buy a product, we go to the dealer with a good reputation not one with a bad reputation. When we look for a college for our children we look at schools with a good reputation that offer the major that our child seeks, not a fly by night school. We have friends and we have acquaintances. Friends are those we trust while acquaintances are merely people we know. Smart people choose their friends carefully. It is a big world, and there are many countries that we must deal with, but trusting all the same is foolish. 

Iran is suffering because of its economy and the sanctions from the United States and other countries. It could very easily promise many things in return for our good will, but I doubt if its leaders will faithfully follow through with any promises. Look at history. Look at North Korea. How many times have we provided support only for the Koreans to violate what it promised after we fed them or provided fuel. Dictators and despots are not interested in their people, but rather their power. It is time to realize that and operate accordingly. 

*****

Donald J. Myers a retired colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps is a regular columnist for Hernando Today. He lives in Spring Hill and can be contacted at dmyersusmc@aol.com.

The Progressive Legacy

The Progressive Legacy

Robert A. Hall

The term “progressive” is steadily replacing “liberal,” because the pernicious effects of liberal policies became associated in the public mind with the name, much as “liberal” replaced progressive in an earlier age for the same reason. They might better, though more awkwardly be called “transnational progressives,” because of their general commitment to one world government, the absurd principle that all cultures are equally valid, and opposition to “outmoded” concepts like American exceptionalism and national sovereignty in the face of UN encroachments. Their ideal is the collapsing European Union, which they think we should beg to join.

“Liberal” is, in any case, confusing to scholars, because the classic liberalism of an earlier period was associated with limited government controlled by the popular will, respect for individual rights and responsibilities, freedom, property rights, free markets, self-reliance, and many values called conservative today. Thus the term “liberal democracy” which refers to the kind of democracy envision by Thomas Jefferson, whose memory progressives revere as much as they despise his principles. Classical liberalism is anathema to progressives, and always has been. It does not fit well with the collectivist mind.

Progressives are not much on limited government. The checks and balanced between the federal government and the states and between the three branches have been pretty well destroyed because they prevented them from forcing people to do what they knew was best for them. They aren’t much on the “popular will” either, so the public’s opposition to Obamacare, or big government, or late term abortion, or support of the Keystone pipeline, means nothing.

Nor are they much on free speech, pious claims to the contrary notwithstanding. People who say things they don’t like must be stopped through hate speech codes and restricting criticism of Islamic terror by outlawing blasphemy. They would have you forget the Alien and Sedition type laws pushed by Progressive Saint Woodrow Wilson, as well as his support for segregation and opposition to women’s suffrage, which passed with more GOP votes than Democrat ones.

The essence of progressivism is coercion, as people must be coerced to do things they don’t want to do or don’t think are in their interests, to serve “the greater good,” as defined by the progressive elites.

Haters on both sides of the political divide fall into the trap of believing their opponents evil, stupid or both. I have a very frustrated progressive relative who, since on the evidence he cannot easily put me in either category, apparently thinks I’m just being, in the lovely British phrase, “bloody minded.” Thus his communications even on jokes take on a vicious political tone. Conservatives calling progressives names, such as “libtard,” is, in my view, offensive, ethically wrong and counter productive, because insults are hardly the way to get either the opposition or the uncommitted to consider your viewpoint with an open mind. Thankfully, the left has at least as many unreasonably and vicious haters as the right. My bias tells me they have many more.

I believe that Dr. Jon Haidt is correct in his excellent book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion that progressives and conservatives think differently about issues because they hold different values, not because one side or the other is evil. Haidt, it should be noted, is an intellectually-honest leftwing academic who strongly supported both John Kerry and Barack Obama. But his book is based on solid research, and should be well received by anyone with an open mind. He has, by the way, ongoing research into values which you can participate in by responding to surveys on line.

I think, however, that it is even more important to look at the results of policies than the values that led to them. The ends can only justify the means if you take into account all of the ends, or results, and the balance and trade offs inherent in those outcomes. And the results of progressive policies have been brutal to societies and the majority of people—and they are shortly going to be far worse.

But this begs the question, why are progressives and their policies flourishing, indeed, seemingly in control of the destiny of a collapsing western civilization? Why do so many people go along with them as they push us towards the cliff? Why cannot they even consider, never mind take responsibility for, all the results of their policies?

I believe that progressives are so wrapped up in their good intentions, so busy trying to think well of themselves for fighting for the right things, that they cannot notice the unintended consequences. It’s like a squirrel runs in front of their car, and they jerk the wheel over, swerving onto the sidewalk and killing a small girl. They are so busy congratulating themselves over saving the squirrel, and imaging the award they will get from PETA, that the dead child never registers. And as Dr. Thomas Sowell says in his fine book Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond State One, too many people cannot think to the next step that will result from a decision or course of action. And not just progressives. But progressive intentions are good and their policies sound good to the majority who cannot think beyond state one.

Progressive literally cannot look at the results of their policies, lest that be an act of un-faith, just as the divines reportedly (but perhaps apocryphally) refused to look into Galileo’s telescope. So progressives cannot even note that the 2009 $1.2 trillion stimulus failed to fulfill Obama’s promise that it would bring unemployment under 5%, just as conservative economists had predicted. Noticing that inconvenient fact would be an act of apostasy.

But the more people who can see what progressive policies have done, not just to our country but to the world, and far worse, what they will shortly do to all of us, the better are our admittedly-slim chances of turning things around, thus preserving the country we love and civilization itself.

Therefore, this detailing of the Progressive Legacy:

Progressives have virtually destroyed higher education. Our universities, once bastions of independent thought, have become centers of politically correct group think, where students are not taught how to think, but what to think. The prevailing ideology is rigidly enforced, and every diversity is celebrated expect the one that really matters—diversity of thought. A conservative has little chance of being hired, and if so can only hope for tenure or promotion by hiding his or her opinions.

John Leo, in “Professors: Just As Liberal, Or More Moderate?” reports that a study “by The Chronicle of Higher Education, the voice of liberal academia, found that Liberals outnumber conservatives by 11-1 among social scientists and 13-1 among humanities professors. 25.5 percent of those who teach sociology identify themselves as Marxist. Self-identified radicals accounted for 19 percent of humanities professors and 24 percent of social scientists.”

Worse, they are educating generations of high school and elementary teachers that indoctrination of students in progressive principles is the right way to teach. You only have to read the weekly stories of outrages on common sense by public school teachers to know their efforts have born fruit.

Progressives created the drug epidemic. When I was in high school, we might (and when I could, I did) indulge in alcohol, but drugs were something only the street bums over in Philadelphia did. I couldn’t have told you the difference between a reefer and heroin. Then came the sixties and the leftwing glorifying of drugs al la Timothy Leary and “Turn on, Tune in, Drop out.” Hundreds of thousands did, tens of thousands died, thousands of families were ripped apart and lives ruined, crime soared, and prostitution to support drug habits flourished. And the spiking market for drugs created in the US and other western counties by the new, progressive culture has destroyed Mexico as well, with 80,000 drug murders and rampant corruption, while also funding global terrorism. I want my culture back.

Progressives destroyed the family. If it feels good, do it: sex without responsibility and children without marriage were the result. Thanks to this cultural change, 70% of black babies today are non-marital births, with whites and Hispanics not that far behind. This increases poverty, trapping generations, increases dysfunction children, and sets them on the path to crime, government dependency and single parenthood for themselves.

Progressives supported abortion. With the US birthrate having fallen well below the replacement rate of 2.1 live births per woman, we are likely going to miss those 50 to 100 million aborted children, especially as progressives try to redeem their entitlement promised with a shrinking younger working population supporting a growing population of us geezers. Blacks make up 13% of the population, but have 40% of the abortions, so Planned Parenthood Founder and progressive saint Margaret Sanger’s goal of preventing more of what she called “the unfit” from being born is “mission accomplished.” If conservatives had killed this many black babies, they’d be shooting us in the street for racial genocide.

Progressives are grinding the poor. In order to feel good about their good intentions for saving the environment, progressives support energy policies that are and will continue to drive energy costs much higher for the poorest segments of society. They claim to care about the poor, but when it comes to spending billions of dollars in money extracted from the poor so they can feel good about lowering the Earth’s temperature less than a degree in a hundred years, the poor will just have to suffer or starve so the progressives can enjoy feeling all green and fuzzy, like bad meat. So the war on coal, the war on fracking, the war on drilling, the war on the Keystone Pipeline goes forward, and the poor and working classes pay for them. Progressives get to feel good and the poor can, well, eat cake.

Progressives destroyed our cities. Detroit is not an accident. They have encouraged black thug culture in the cities that drove out the white and black middleclass, the taxpayers and job creators. In his great essay, “Black Rednecks and White Liberals,” Dr. Thomas Sowell postulates that inner city black culture, with its touchy honor, violence, promiscuity and limited work ethic,  is an inheritance they picked up from poor southern white rednecks after the civil war and brought north. Now, ironically it’s defended as black culture, not subject to criticism.

But progressive policies have abetted the destruction. Vote buying from public employee unions has created debt and unfunded liabilities that can never be redeemed. They cannot now ask their union allies and welfare dependent voter base to taker a haircut—that would create riots. So they will continue to turn the screws on the productive, who will continue to flee the cities, feeding the death spiral. Welfare giveaway programs and political corruption have only fed the flames of what is now an unavoidable approaching fiscal disaster. And the more they disarm decent citizens, the more murder they get in their “gun free zones.” In ten years, Chicago will be Detroit. Soon whole states like Illinois and California will follow the cities into the abyss.

Progressives are destroying the country through fiscal fecklessness. Vote buying by progressives in both parties has created an unfunded liability and debt that, like the cities, though far vaster, can never be paid. As I say in The Coming Collapse of the American Republic, I do not see how we can avoid fiscal collapse, followed by economic, social and political collapse, hyper-inflation, chaos, starvation, riots, violence and widespread death. But you cannot touch one of the entitlement programs in even a minor way, (Social Security, Disability Insurance, Food Stamps, Medicare, Public Employee Pensions, Medicaid and now Obamacare) without howls of outrage. Google “The West and the Tyranny of Public Debt,” an excellent Newsweek article from 2010 that details the impact uncontrolled debt has had on other societies. With an acknowledged debt of $16T and unfunded liabilities estimated from $87T to triple that, your grandkids will not live in the United States, though perhaps in a rump dictatorship incorporating that name.

It’s not just our country. Progressives have had a worldwide pernicious impact through their policies.

Vietnam: Progressives foamed at the mouth over US support for the Republic of Vietnam, the government in the south. They worked hard, often secretly guided by the communists we now know, and finally elected a post-Watergate congress that reneged on our treaty obligations to the south. Without supplies, spare parts and ammo, the south was soon overwhelmed by a communist North that was well supplied by China and the USSR—they invaded South Vietnam with more tanks than the Germans invaded France with in 1940.

While the Republic of Vietnam was admittedly no Jeffersonian democracy, it did allow multiple political parties, some press freedom and religious freedom. None of these are available to the people of Vietnam today under the communists. Christians are suppressed. The Cambodian reds murdered a quarter of the population. Tens of thousands of Vietnamese died in re-education camps or trying to escape as “boat people.” The hill people, who supported us, are steadily being exterminated. Reports claim that twice as many people were murdered by the communists in the first two years after they won as died in the entire war. It’s hard to verify, because today’s Vietnam is a completely closed society.

And the response from the left? With the notable exception of Joan Baez, crickets. One leftist, asked about the mass murders, said he didn’t believe in criticizing socialist states. You see, to acknowledge the oppression and death brought on the Vietnamese people by the communist victory would mean they owned it. It might jeopardize their ability to feel good about themselves for opposing the evil Republic of Vietnam. Far more comfortable not to notice the suffering they created, because, after all, their intentions were good.

DDT: Progressives all read Silent Spring by Rachel Carson and sprang into action to ban DDT, to “save the birds.” They never thought about what other results might follow. The major result was that Malaria, which had been in a world wide decline, spiked back up. Millions died, many of them black, brown and yellow kids in the third world. And they go on dying today. I consider Carson the fourth most successful mass murderer of the twentieth century, behind, in order, Mao, Stalin and Hitler. But she’s gaining. (A minor result is the bedbug and West Nile Virus epidemics in the US.)

Leftists can’t bear to notice these deaths from Malaria, because to do so would hurt their entitlement to feel good about themselves for saving the birds. Ironically, they now support eagle-chopper wind farms that slaughter thousands of these same birds, so they can feel good about fighting global warming.

Iran: Progressives looked at the repressive Shah of Iran, and mounted a campaign to force him out. They take no responsibility that the success of their campaign put in place a far more repressive theocracy that hangs gays, stones women for adultery, oppresses women, started a war with Iraq in which a million died, including young boys the mullahs used as human mine-clearing devices, supports terrorism around the world, and is developing atomic weapons. If we lose New York City in an atomic blast, they will still be so busy feeling good about opposing the Shah they won’t notice. Except for those living close enough to die of radiation sickness or starvation, but not incinerated instantly in the blast.

Zimbabwe: Progressives hated the oppressive white rule in then-Rhodesia. So they launched a campaign for black rule. They are too busy celebrating to notice that Zimbabwe, which once exported food, is now starving, as the appropriation of white-owned farms for black supporters of the thugocracy failed to expropriate their work ethic or knowledge of farming. That the result of black rule was to drop black life expectancy from about 63 to about 36 didn’t bother them at all. (It has recovered a bit into the 40s, I’ve read.) Nor did the destruction of Zimbabwe’s economy by the rule of greedy and incompetent thugs, with hyper-inflation destroying everyone’s hope of prosperity—except those with the guns—bother them. You can buy billions of dollars in Zimbabwean currency on eBay for a few bucks, getting in on the progressive utopia.

South Africa: All right-thinking progressives opposed apartheid and white rule, and black rule leaves South Africa not far behind Zimbabwe. A 2009 article in Newsweek expressed surprise to find that “… 800,000 out of a total white population of 4 million have left since 1995, by one count. But they're hardly alone. Blacks, coloreds (as people of mixed race are known in South Africa) and Indians are also expressing the desire to leave. In the last 12 years, the number of blacks graduating in South Africa with advanced degrees has grown from 361,000 to 1.4 million a year. But in that time the number of those expressing high hopes to emigrate has doubled.” It’s really no surprise, as crime and corruption under black rule has soared, and regardless of color, those with the education or finances to thrive elsewhere are fleeing, leaving the country without the knowledge and skills to operate government, business or industry, creatig an eventual death spiral.

A 2010 article in the Times Live of Johannesburg, “South Africa’s Black Brain Drain” by Subashni Naidoo notes that “Almost half of South Africa’s middle-class black teenagers plan to flee the country for greener pastures. … Reflecting views similar to their white and Indian counterparts, 71% of black youth felt it was impossible to get employment in South Africa; 58% said crime made them want to live in another country, and 73% felt government was not living up to its promises.”

According to the Genocide Watch website, “… there is a coordinated campaign of genocide being conducted against white farmers, known as Boers.” I have read that many countries won’t take immigrants from South Africa because it’s better they stay there and die than flee and contribute to the destruction through the brain drain. But with this flight, South Africa cannot be far behind Zimbabwe as the next progressive paradise.

Why all this unnoticed suffering and death following progressive policies?

It is not because progressives are evil, but that they are so wrapped up in feeling good about their good intentions that they cannot allow the unintended evil results to intrude on their euphoria. They perfectly fit my favorite quote from T. S. Eliot: “Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm—but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.”

So you would be wrong to hate progressives. But if you care about the results for real people and the lives of the non-elite struggling in this world, or about future generations whose hope of freedom and prosperity is being destroyed, you have a moral obligation to oppose progressive policies with every fiber of your being. You must notice the suffering progressives ignore—and do what you can to stop them from making it worse.

*****

Permission to forward or re-post, with credit to the author, is granted. Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts Senate. For a free pdf of his book, The Coming Collapse of the American Republic e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. All royalties go to help wounded vets. ​Books by Robert A. Hall: http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html

Your weekend reading

This is your weekend reading, as I’ll be away for three days. Then next week, I’ll be moving my flag to Madison, WI and be tied up being poked and prodded at the VA for a couple of days. Posts will likely be scares until October 6 or so. ~Bob.

The late, great middle class. By Victor Davis Hanson

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0913/hanson.php3#.UkRFltK-r8I

Excerpt: Obama promised to restore the middle class. In truth, he has enacted the very policies that have done it the most damage in years. That paradox may explain why his base of support remains the very rich and the very poor. 

Good Article: Translating Hillaryspeak. By Andy Weddington

http://acoloneloftruth.blogspot.com/2013/09/translating-hillaryspeak.html

Excerpt: More so than usual I've spent some time tuning into sundry news outlets. 

Lessons from the Australian Carbon Tax

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=23638&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: Poor policy processes tend to lead to poor policy outcomes. Australia's carbon tax experience provides a number of important lessons in how not to go about implementing sensible climate change policy, says Alex Robson, a senior lecture at Griffith University in Australia. What the United States needs to learn from Australia:

Should Washington Pay Parents to Raise Future Taxpayers?

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=23639&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: A claim often repeated by politicians from both sides of the aisle is that they are "pro-family," but few have put forward any legislation devoted to addressing the problems faced by American families. One of these problems is the "marriage divide," which has recently seen efforts aimed at resolving this issue by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), says W. Bradford Wilcox, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Education and affluence are directly correlated to marriage continuance. Non-marital childbearing has remained rare for college-educated women. For women without college degrees, the rate has increased over the last decade. Less than 10 percent of births to college-educated women are outside of wedlock, compared to nearly 50 percent for women lacking college degrees.

Eight Things That Could Go Wrong With Obamacare. By Peter Suderman

http://reason.com/archives/2013/09/19/8-things-that-could-go-wrong-with-obamac

Excerpt: In less than two weeks, Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges will be open for enrollment. Three months after that, the law’s major coverage provisions officially go into effect. It’s the biggest expansion of the entitlement state in decades, and a massive bureaucratic undertaking.

State Department has ignored security recommendations after Benghazi, report finds
http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/25/state-department-has-ignored-security-recommendations-after-benghazi/#ixzz2g0PfPypH

Color me shocked. ~Bob

Obamacare; More Societal Hate

http://justcommonsense-lostinamerica.blogspot.com/2013/09/obamacare-more-societal-hate.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FMoXTa+%28Lost+in+America%29

Excerpt: Is Barack Hussein Obama trying to destroy America by divide and conquer? It certainly seems so. To win elections he has had no qualms at all about setting the poor against the rich, gay against straight, Hispanic and Blacks against White and the phony Republicans "war on women". But of all Obama's skulduggery, I believe Obamacare will be the final blow that destroys any hope for societal unity. The unfairness of Obamacare is without precedent. Here you have a Socialist President that has chosen to grant Obamacare exemptions for he and his staff, the Congress and all of their staff, corporations who donated generously to his campaign and favored union members.

Copper mine bill sparks debate over Native American sacred lands
http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/25/copper-mine-bill-sparks-debate-over-native-american-sacred-lands/#ixzz2fyrQhS95

Excerpt: “This public land at Oak Flat is a place of worship for the Apache, Yavapai, and other tribes in the region,” Mapetsi’s Jesse Renteria wrote in a September 19 email to a staffer for South Dakota Republican Rep. …“Former Rep. Ron Paul voted against this same bill in the 112th Congress because he viewed it as an earmarked giveaway of American assets to foreign owned mining companies where one of the companies, Rio Tinto, is partly owned by China and has ties with Iran in a uranium mine in Namibia,” Debbie Ho, Mapesti’s founder, told The Daily Caller News Foundation in an email.

3 charged in NYC with fighting for al-Shabab terrorist group

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/09/23/3-charged-in-nyc-with-fighting-for-al-shabab-terrorist-group/

Excerpt: Prosecutors in Brooklyn describe the defendants — Ali Yasin Ahmed, Madhi Hashi and Mohamed Yusuf — as "dangerous and influential" members of al-Shabab who were part of an elite unit of suicide bombers. They were captured in Africa last year while traveling to Yemen to team up with the Al Qaeda offshoot there.

Hillary's Benghazi Investigator Confirms Egypt Link

http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/hillarys-benghazi-investigator-confirms-egypt-link/#jxl9w7GKCgsWTjc6.99Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/hillarys-benghazi-investigator-confirms-egypt-link/#jxl9w7GKCgsWTjc6.99

Excerpt: In a development unreported by news media, the State Department’s lead Benghazi investigator, Thomas Pickering, apparently leaked important classified information at a House hearing last week on the Sept. 11, 2012, Benghazi attack. Pickering revealed there is evidence that an Egyptian organization was behind the attack on theU.S. mission that killed U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. He further refused to deny there was a plan to kidnap Stevens. (Oops. He better watch the sky after Tuesday…Barb)

Filmmaker Blamed For Benghazi Out Of Jail And Talking

http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/filmmaker-blamed-for-benghazi-out-of-jail-and-talking/#42ldUQevHOxWfukU.99

Excerpt: Nakoula Basseley Nakoula’s online video was blamed by President Obama for an international terror episode inBenghazi that killed four Americans, and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised he would be arrested and prosecuted, and he, in fact, was the only person to end up in jail after the attack by Islamists that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens…. “We don’t need Nidal Hasan again.” He said there are other travesties against human rights, too, involving the massacre of Christians in Egypt, and Americans need to fight back against such attacks.

They Denied That We Were In A Depression In 1933 And They Are Doing It Again In 2013

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/they-denied-that-we-were-in-a-depression-in-1933-and-they-are-doing-it-again-in-2013

Excerpt: The more things change, the more things stay the same. The Great Depression actually started in 1929, but as you will see below, as late as 1933 the Associated Press was still pumping out lots of news stories with optimistic economic headlines and many Americans still did not believe that we were actually in a depression. And of course we are experiencing a very similar thing today. 

Lost: $67 Million. If Found, Please Return To IRS

http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonynitti/2013/09/25/lost-67-million-if-found-please-return-to-irs/

Excerpt: Hoo boy…this isn’t going to go over well. The IRS has seen its summer from hell extended into autumn, as a report issued today by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) revealed that the Service cannot account for $67 million that was set aside in a slush fund to help pay for Obamacare….That’s $67 million of taxpayer dollars that were spent on, well…nobody is quite sure what it was spent on, other than it appears to have used for employee workspaces and technology. (In charge of your tax returns, your personally identifiable financial and medical data. What’s it matter? –Barb)

ACORN’s ‘Fraternal Twin’ An Obamacare Navigator

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/09/25/ACORNS-Fraternal-Twin-An-ObamaCare-Navigator

Excerpt: United Labor Union Council, Local 100, often described as ACORN's "fraternal twin," has been awarded an ObamaCare "Navigator" grant to enroll people in health care exchanges. Local 100, based in New Orleans, will be conducting mass enrollments in Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. As a result, it will have confidential, personal information on thousands of people seeking health insurance. 

Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/25/revealed-qatars-world-cup-slaves

Excerpt: Dozens of Nepalese migrant labourers have died in Qatar in recent weeks and thousands more are enduring appalling labour abuses, a Guardian investigation has found, raising serious questions about Qatar's preparations to host the 2022 World Cup. (well, Mohammad—the perfect example of conduct for Muslims—held slaves and the Qur’an allows sex with slave girls, so this is to be expected. ~Bob.)

Is The US Going To War With Syria Over A Natural Gas Pipeline?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-04/guest-post-us-going-war-syria-over-natural-gas-pipeline

Excerpt: As we asked (rhetorically, of course) and answered over 3 months ago, why has the little nation of Qatar spent 3 billion dollars to support the rebels in Syria? The answer revolves, as usually is the case in the Middle East, around a pipeline. Here are some additional perspectives. Submitted by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog, Could it be because Qatar is the largest exporter of liquid natural gas in the world and Assad won't let them build a natural gas pipeline through Syria? (Meanwhile US drilling in the Gulf restricted in violation of court decrees by Regime, Canadian pipeline slowed, and now Regime trying to put restrictions on natural gas, one of our most plentiful resources…. Oh, and it goes through Lebanon…can’t leave Jordan out, either, most likely….Barb)

History Is The Enemy As ‘Brilliant’ Psy-Ops Become The News

http://jimmarrs.com/news_events/news/history-is-the-enemy-as-brilliant-psy-ops-become-the-news/

Excerpt: How much longer must we subject ourselves to such an “invisible government”? … “False reality” requires historical amnesia, lying by omission and the transfer of significance to the insignificant. In this way, political systems promising security and social justice have been replaced by piracy, “austerity” and “perpetual war”: an extremism dedicated to the overthrow of democracy.

Iran's New President: Yes, Holocaust Was A Crime. By Josh Levs and Mick Krever, CNN

http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2013/09/25/irans-new-president-yes-the-holocaust-happened/

Excerpt: Iran's new president has acknowledged the Holocaust, furthering the stark contrast between himself and his predecessor. "Any crime that happens in history against humanity, including the crime the Nazis committed towards the Jews as well as non-Jews, was reprehensible and condemnable," President Hassan Rouhani said in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

Exclusive: CNN Fabricates Iranian President's Remarks about Holocaust

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13920703001316

Excerpt: American news channel CNN fabricated the remarks made by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in response to the network's question about the Holocaust. (Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency)

Brazilian President Slams U.S. at UN for Spying on her Government, Businesses, People

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/09/24/brazilian-president-slams-u-s-at-un-for-spying-on-her-government-businesses-people/

Excerpt: She added that “communications by Brazilian diplomatic representation offices, including the permanent mission of Brazil with the United Nations and even the very presidency of Republic of Brazil were subject to intersection of communications.” “Meddling in such a manner in the lives and affairs of other countries is a breach of international law,” Rousseff said. “…“The right to security of a country’s citizens can never be ensured by violating the fundamental human and civil rights of another country’s citizens.

Obama’s UN Declaration: ‘The World Is More Stable Than It Was Five Years Ago’

http://pjmedia.com/blog/obamas-un-declaration-the-world-is-more-stable-than-it-was-five-years-ago/

Excerpt: Not bothering to mention the human rights of Iranians, the president’s muddled message continued: “We are not seeking regime change, and we respect the right of the Iranian people to access peaceful nuclear energy.” He even declared that al-Qaeda had still been damaged even after rattling off recent terror attacks, and boldly proclaimed “the world is more stable than it was five years ago” — just before acknowledging that “a glance at today’s headlines indicates that dangers remain.” Like he did just hours after last week’s Navy Yard shooting, Obama touted economic recovery “five years after the global economy collapsed.”

Bill Clinton gets back at Bono with his own impression.

http://news.msn.com/world/video?videoid=4ad8a94d-f79d-43a0-bf17-cfb7d8a4bd3b&from=en-us_msnhpgt1

Excerpt: Earlier this week, U2 singer Bono treated the world to a spot-on impression of Bill Clinton on the stage of a CGI event. And now, the president turned super-philanthropist has retaliated. Poorly.

Everything is Fake Now. By Daniel Greenfield

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2012/08/everything-is-fake-now.html

Excerpt: Reality hasn't gone away, but we have gone away from it. Enough of us have gone down into the dream, grasped a thread of the story and allowed it to sweep us away. Given a choice between the red pill and the blue pill, they have unconsciously chosen the blue pill without ever being aware that they had a choice.

LYONS: Reaching out with dishonor

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/sep/25/lyons-reaching-out-with-dishonor/

Excerpt: It has been a long-standing U.S. policy not to negotiate with terrorists and certainly not to arm them. Nonetheless, on Sept. 16, President Obama made a presidential determination that waived Sections 40 and 40(a) of the Arms Export Control Act that he claims allows him to fund organizations — almost surely that will include terrorists — for the sake of "national security." What prompted such an incredible finding? (The Iranians are ever ready to sucker us, and Mr. Obama is so open to being taken for a ride by these guys that it makes one want to despair. The admiral makes solid points about the sad reality of this situation. --Del)

Wednesday Afternoon Round-Up - Motives and Means. By Daniel Greenfield

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2013/09/wednesday-afternoon-roundup-motive-and.html

Excerpt: This isn’t abstract politics. It’s not about economics, the environment or foreign policy. It’s about a worldview in which a five-year-old who can’t recite the Islamic confession of faith deserves to be killed.

Tweet from Secular African ‏@SecularAfrican

What exactly is the difference between Shabaab and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)? Didn't Muhammad massacre innocent Jews and enslave their women?

Time’s Stengel latest in long line of reporters who jumped to jobs in Obama administration

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/times-stengel-latest-in-long-line-of-reporters-who-jumped-to-jobs-in-obama-administration/2013/09/25/3937c1fa-2244-11e3-b73c-aab60bf735d0_story.html

The payoff for Obama’s media fluffers. ~Bob

Fitzpatrick: Obamacare hurting Sesame Place employees

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20130926_Fitzpatrick__Obamacare_hurting_Sesame_Place_employees.html

Excerpt: Last year, Big Bird's job security was thrust into the political spotlight. This year, it's his health insurance. In a letter sent last week to President Obama, U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick contended that the Affordable Care Act had caused Sesame Place, one of Bucks County's biggest tourist attractions, to terminate health benefits for its part-time employees.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid called the Obamacare medical device tax "stupid" at a briefing today on Capitol Hill:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/harry-reid-calls-obamacare-medical-device-tax-stupid_757185.html

Excerpt: Some of the biggest supporters for doing away with the stupid tax--I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that--doing away with that tax have told me they won't support that on CR."

Largest Syrian rebel groups form Islamic alliance, in possible blow to U.S. influence

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/largest-syrian-rebel-groups-embrace-islamic-alliance-in-possible-blow-to-us-influence/2013/09/25/f669629e-25f8-11e3-9372-92606241ae9c_story.html

Excerpt: American hopes of winning more influence over Syria’s fractious rebel movement faded Wednesday after 11 of the biggest armed factions repudiated the Western-backed opposition coalition and announced the formation of a new alliance dedicated to creating an Islamic state. The al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, is the lead signatory of the new group, which will further complicate fledgling U.S. efforts to provide lethal aid to “moderate” rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. (OK, so now it's really over for us in Syria, the biggest force there are the damn Islamist radicals, who hate us at least as much as they hate Assad, maybe more. We need to stay the hell out of there, but Mr. Obama seems still bent on getting us stuck in this awful mess somehow. The bit with the Russians is not going anywhere very fast, as was predicted on day one. I just hope somebody gets to Mr. Obama and convinces him that the smartest thing he can do is just wash his hands of this whole thing and tell the Russians it's up to them to get the chemical weapons, but they can work through the UN on that. Meanwhile, these guys will just roll along now, mistreating and murdering all the non-Muslims in the country. Those poor guys must all be praying for Assad's forces to come out ahead. --Del)

Photos: Muslims Attack Packed All Saints Church, Scores Of Christians Slaughtered

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2013/09/photos-muslims-attack-packed-all-saints-church-scores-of-christians-slaughtered.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Excerpt: Strong images ... be forewarned. 

Obama's Campaign Artist: Drones Killed All 'Hope'

http://www.tmz.com/2013/09/26/obama-hope-shepard-fairey-drones/

Excerpt: President Obama's use of war drones is a buzzkill for the guy who created the 'Hope' campaign. Shepard Fairey -- the artist behind Obama's 'Hope' poster -- was clearly disappointed in the Prez while bouncing from the Chateau Marmont last night. 

Archbishop of Canterbury says, "Islamists Martyr Christians" By Joel Himelfarb

http://www.newsmaxworld.com/newswidget/christians-archbishop-islamist-martyrdom/2013/09/26/id/527798?promo_code=125BD-1&utm_source=125BDTelegraph_Media_Group&utm_medium=nmwidget&utm_campaign=widgetphase1

Excerpt: Islamist attacks against Christians in Muslim countries are creating an atmosphere of fear and creating martyrs of the faithful in exceedingly growing numbers, the Archbishop of Canterbury said in an interview with BBC Radio. In the interview, reported in The Telegraph, the Most Rev. Justin Welby said that there had been more than 80 Christian “martyrs” in the last few days alone. He was speaking about the suicide bombing of All Saints Anglican Church in Peshawar, Pakistan.

British 'White Widow' Samanthah Lewthwaite arrest warrant issued by Interpol: A global hunt for Samantha Lewthwaite has been launched when Interpol issued an international 'red notice' for her arrest because of the danger she poses 'worldwide'.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/kenya/10336589/Samantha-Lewthwaite-arrest-warrant-issued-by-Interpol.html

Excerpt: The alert came amid intense speculation that Lewthwaite, the widow of 7/7 bomber Germaine Lindsay, was linked to the Islamist attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping centre that left 67 victims - including five Britons - dead. The move, requested by the Kenyan authorities, calls on Interpol’s 190 member countries to watch for the 29-year-old soldier’s daughter from Aylesbury and arrest her if she is found.

How much will Obamacare increase premiumsin your state?

https://twitter.com/kesgardner/status/383274866763255808/photo/1

Map.

Study: Yes, Obamacare Will Raise Premiums Significantly. By Guy Benson 

 http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2013/09/25/study-on-average-obamacare-increases-premiums-99-percent-for-men-62-percent-for-women-n1709510

Excerpt: Also, overall national health spending will increase by hundreds of billions morethan it would have without the "Affordable" Care Act. And yet, HHS released new data on premium costs with great fanfare earlier today, pretending that most people will be paying less. Health policy analysts at the Manhattan Institute have crunched the numbers, and debunked the administration's happy-talk spin.

The Romneys Adopt Black Baby; Progressive Haters And Racists Go Wild

http://www.mrconservative.com/2013/09/25045-romney-son-and-wife-adopt-black-baby-progressive-haters-and-racists-go-wild/

Excerpt: There is nothing that drives Progressives into a greater racial (and racist) frenzy than the moment when they discover that a conservative isn’t actually racist.

Georgia’s Voter ID Lawsuit, Seven Years Later: Disenfranchised, or Still Voting?

http://pjmedia.com/blog/georgias-voter-id-lawsuit-seven-years-later-disenfranchised-or-still-voting/?singlepage=true

Excerpt: Was the court wrong? Were the claims of these witnesses true? Were these individual Georgians prevented from casting their ballots? Official state voting records show that the court was right. Many of these witnesses — again, who signed affidavits — went on to vote in the 2008, 2010, and 2012 elections. (I get a kick out of things like this, where someone has gone to the trouble of really following up on assorted loud claims of being treated badly somehow. Amazing how the truth then comes out in contrast to what all the screaming was about. --Del)